Hamlin Rules Stafford SRX Opener

STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. — Denny Hamlin scored a dominant victory as the Superstar Racing Experience returned to Stafford Motor Speedway on Thursday night.

With rain and lightning in the area, the race was cut from the scheduled 75 laps to 58 laps.

Marco Andretti took the lead on the opening lap with Clint Bowyer in second. Hamlin took second from Bowyer on lap two and Hamlin and Bowyer would swap that position back and forth several more times before the caution came out with seven laps complete for spins in turn four by Ryan Newman and Brad Keselowski that collected the cars of Ken Schrader, Hailie Deegan and Bobby Labonte.

Andretti powered back into the lead on the lap-11 restart with Hamlin settling into second. Bowyer was third with Paul Tracy in fourth and Newman and Tony Kanaan side by side for fifth. 

Hamlin took the lead from Andretti on lap 13, while Kanaan took fourth from Tracy. Bowyer made a move to the inside of Andretti on lap 17 to take over second, but Andretti came right back on the next lap to get back by Bowyer. 

Kanaan was still fourth and Tracy fifth as Hamlin continued to lead the race.

Bowyer went back by Andretti to move into second on lap 21 with Tracy taking fourth from Kanaan. 

Hamlin was still in the lead but Bowyer was quickly closing in on Hamlin’s back bumper. With 30 laps complete, Hamlin and Bowyer had pulled away from Andretti in third, who had Tracy, Kanaan, Newman, Deegan, Keselowski, Labonte and Schrader in an eight-car train.

Tracy made a move to the inside of Andretti on lap 34 to take over third with Andretti getting sideways, he slipped back to sixth place as Kanaan took fourth and Newman fifth. 

The caution came out at the halfway point of the race with Hamlin leading Bowyer, Tracy, Kanaan, Newman and Deegan.

Hamlin took the lead on the lap-45 restart with Bowyer in second. Newman moved into third with Tracy fourth and Andretti in fifth. 

Deegan took over fifth place from Andretti on lap 48 while, Newman took second from Bowyer on lap-51 as Hamlin continued to lead the race. 

Just as Newman had caught Hamlin, the caution came out with 56 laps complete as rain began to fall with lightening off in the distance. 

The cars were shown the white flag on lap 57 and Hamlin took the checkered flag under caution on lap 58 to score the victory.

Newman, Bowyer, Tracy and Deegan rounded out the top five.